Coupeville Sports

Two Coupeville football jerseys (lower right corner) make their Sunday Night Football debut. (Photo courtesy Ryan King)

Coupeville High School football hit prime time.

Or, at least its jerseys did.

Thanks to a program put together by the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the Wolves showed up on NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcast this weekend.

As the Minnesota Vikings carefully gift-wrapped a win and handed it to the Hawks, the biggest thing missing was the roar of Seattle’s fanbase.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, most NFL teams are playing games with little to no fans in their stadiums.

Not wanting all those seats to just be empty, the Seahawks, with the help of the WIAA, reached out to high school Athletic Directors and football coaches across the state.

The Hawks asked for a home and away jersey from schools which wanted to participate, and paid for shipping.

While speaking to the website Scorebook Live Washington, Jeff Richards, Seattle’s Vice President of Marketing and Community Engagement, said he had 150+ schools respond.

Some schools sent #12 jerseys to represent the Seahawk fans, while others chose #3 for Russell Wilson.

In the case of Mount Spokane, it chose #30 to honor All-State running back Kannon Katzer, and his mother, who died in a vehicle accident.

Coupeville is represented by its own #30 and #24.

While both numbers appear to have been chosen at random, they do have some history.

In the last decade-and-a-half, #30 has been worn by game-busting running back Clay Hughes, as well as Jake Pease, Luke Pelant, and current senior Sage Downes.

Those wearing #24 in recent seasons have included Jonathan Partida, Garrett Machen, Jacobi Pilgrim, and Matthew Hampton.